


Point of Change

by quigonejinn



Series: The Way We Know Sorrow [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-11
Updated: 2013-09-11
Packaged: 2017-12-26 07:50:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/963425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quigonejinn/pseuds/quigonejinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The universe where Striker Eureka is piloted by a mother-son team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Point of Change

**Author's Note:**

> This only exists because of the amazing, amazing, ridiculously gorgeous photoset and text that [vrabia](http://vrabia.tumblr.com/post/60385685993/striker-eureka-mk-5-country-of-origin-australia) put together and made and just. LOOK AT THAT THING.
> 
> Also, this is not a fluffy happy fix-it story. We all know how Scissure and Sydney go in canon, right?

The point of change is Chuck Hansen and Adam Nguyen splitting biscuits after junior league practice. Chuck left his pocket money at home by accident; Adam is a nice kid. Two days later, Adam is sniffling and sneezing and pale and running a fever; three days later, Chuck is sniffling and sneezing and pale and running a fever. Angela sticks her head over the fence and confirms that the boys have the same thing, and they laugh about it. Not only does Adam have it, but his little sister caught it too, and Miranda is up to her elbows in end-of-winter influenza. 

When the helicopter lands, when it’s clear that the first strike won’t stop the kaiju, Herc finds that Mrs. Nguyen from next door in his house. She looks like she is terrified and trying very hard not to look that way for the sake of the sick eleven old boy leaning against her shoulder and the sniffling three year old girl in her lap. She is also visibly, markedly pregnant. A few feet away, Chuck is curled up in the blanket that his Nanna crocheted when she was pregnant with Scott.

Herc takes one look at Angela and knows that she’ll try to stay if he even mentions leaving anyone behind. 

So he talks some bull’s wool about how they’ll all fit if the weight distribution is right. He puts Angela on there first, in the back, all the way against the side, and puts the three year old in her lap. Then, Adam, who is so far out of it that he seems surprised when he sees the helicopter, then Mrs. Nguyen, who Herc has to half-help, half-lift in his arms, because she’s eight months gone and not a big woman to start with. Adam helps him strap the seatbelt over his mum’s belly, and Angela soothes the three year old. That fills up the back. They don’t have headsets or ear protection for everyone, but it’ll have to do.

Then, Herc puts Chuck, still wrapped in the blanket in the front. There is, in fact, a headset for him. Chuck blinks, face pale. His eyes are red, and he takes a breath to ask a question, but Herc puts a hand on the boy’s face. ”Don’t be a pain in the arse, all right?” 

Chuck looks at him, then nods. He clenches his teeth to keep them from chattering because he’s moved into the chills part of being sick with influenza, and then Herc looks at Angela, wedged all the way in the back, strapped in with a toddler in her lap and pinned in with a sick boy and a pregnant woman between her and the door. The helicopter only has room for the pilot and three adults. Now they’ve got the pilot, plus two adults, two eleven year olds, and a baby.

Herc sees Angela face change when she realizes what he’s done, but the pilot is giving him a hand signal that they’re out of time. Herc signals back for him to start the blades, and he mouths to Angela that he loves her. 

Angela is crying and cursing and telling him that she loves him all at the same time.

Herc steps back and shuts the doors. 

…

Herc Hansen gets to say goodbye to his wife. He gets both Angela and Chuck out of there. Not trivial, either, is that he saves three people who die in another universe.

Four, in a way: in 2025, Hercules Ngyuen uses his phone to shoot footage of Striker Eureka and Mutavore in downtown Sydney.

**Author's Note:**

> Let's just pretend that some helicopters only have doors on one side. 
> 
> Prompted in no small part by from [harrietvane](http://harrietvane.tumblr.com) mentioning the Vietnamese community in Sydney. All the mistakes and NO AUSTRALIAN WOULD SAY THAT are mine.


End file.
